Blog Post 3: The Banking Model

Paulo Freire described the “Banking Model” as method that teachers use to teach in classrooms where the students creativity is cut.  Freire describes this method as a way of oppression towards the students.  The teachers “deposit” their knowledge into a student’s brain without allowing the students to express thoughts or questions they might have.  They get information planted into their brain without actually understanding it.  It limits a students input into their own learning not only that, but with this method of a teacher not allowing them to speak their mind a student can become “lazy” and feel as if they really do not know nothing.  This is a form of oppressing the learners because an educator has the “power” to say and teach what they want to and not necessarily what they actually need and should know.  A students takes in the information to a certain extent where it will help them pass their exams.  Soon after it will be forgotten because they do not understand what they are being taught but rather try to remember it.

In my years of attending school I have luckily only encounter one teacher that went by this method.  He would expect students to understand everything he lectured and would get upset when a student had a question.  His teaching would be based off textbook reading and videos but never explanations.  Facts were just thrown to the class and we had to remember them.  My teacher would joke around about getting the information tatted so we would never forget it but it would be frustrating to just have to remember a date and not know why it mattered.  As a result the students hated the class and more than 90% of the kids failed the exams.  I personally can not remember anything from that class, I felt dumb when I did not comprehend something and I knew that if I asked the teacher for help he would get upset.  He would just stand in front of the class and talk, he did not allow no one to leave to the bathroom, or even for water.  Even though some may say this method can benefit some people I believe that it restricts the influence the students have to their own learning.  A student should know why they are learning something and why it matters and not just be forced to remember it to pass their next test.

The Banking method, a balanced method?

To Freire, the Banking Method is a structure in classrooms in which knowledge is “deposited” (72) into the students, which Freire describes as “serving to dehumanize” (75). Rather than being a mutual space where everyone learns from and teaches each other, this structure is designed to have one main teacher (the authoritative figure) while the students remain there passively.

This model is critiqued by Freire for being a form of oppression as it empowers the teacher to be the “depositor” (72) leaving the students powerless, at the expense of both the teachers and the students (more so the students, however) as everyone can always benefit from learning something.

The Banking method is contradictory to the entire idea of teaching being a mutual process between teachers and students; so if the entire focus of learning is for the sake of education, as it’s supposed to be “an instrument for liberation”, the Banking method does just the opposite- as it subconsciously establishes an existing oppressed space in classrooms.

I went to a Charter School for middle and high school, and although the immediate norm in schools globally follows the Banking method, my schools were more strict in following it. We had to sit there robotically- couldn’t get up to use the bathroom, throw garbage out, nor get tissue without raising our hand as asking the teacher first, and that’s if the teacher said yes- and pay attention. No speaking or disrupting or else it would be a demerit. However, something I was very appreciative of that my schools did, is that they were very big and open to asking questions and letting students lead discussions via seminars(in some classes). In Hindsight, I can vouch that the Banking Method’s benefits included: practicing more focus in classrooms and learning, along with more order of the learning material; however, the idea of the teacher being the only “depositor” is harmful. Therefore, students should have more of an active role in their classes not only so they can retain more but ACTUALLY learn and hopefully enjoy it. Also, the presence of teachers may be useful in case students are confused or have ‘loose ends’ that need to be ’tied up’ at the end of class, it’s all about balance for the best outcome.

Pedagogy And Power

Pablo Freire was a Brazilian educator and philosopher who support the idea of Pedagogy. Pedagogy is the academic discipline with the theory and practice of teaching and how these influence student learning. He related to the term called “banking model”  which he explained the wrong method of how the students are learning. The banking model is describing as a negative way of students being educated every day.

The banking concept of education has received many criticisms. Freire describes this as when the teachers directly fill the minds of the students with information and the student themselves accept it without any questioning. The teacher informs, and the student listens in to return. The students are not allowed to challenge and ask any questions. Therefore, the students have no freedom in learning and do not gain any knowledge. Most students basically memorize all the information before taking an exam, but have not fully understood the concept of learning it.

For example, when the professor tells you read the textbooks and you will be able to find all the information you needed. This is the part when the students have no clue in learning something because the book does not always give a perfect explanation and may not also provide the right information.

My Art hiSTORY

I think that for a lot of people Art is thought of so simplistically; when actually it’s a rather complex concept. To me is an expression, regardless of what form it may be in, it can be applied freely by anyone, well to me, at least. Many people assume that art is simply painting and drawing, but to me it’s way more than that. I think ironically enough that Art IS History, and History IS Art. They go hand in hand and intertwine to help see where some people’s heads are at or where we are as a nation, or simply trend-wise. Personally, my attention is greatly captivated with aesthetic, so whether it’s a beat that’s sonically beautiful, or the color scheme of a picture, or the way clothing goes together, or how a body can move in sync with a beat, I enjoy it all.

Art is in my life everywhere, sometimes it controls things in my life, such as what I wear, what my mind envisions, how I see things, what I listen to, what I take pictures of, etc. Art has definitely played a part in who I am today and why I am how I am and why I like the things that I like.

In this class, I hope to gain a larger perspective of Art and widening my current definition of it. I hope to learn more about how it used to be to see how it’s developed today and if it has had any long term impacts. I hope to also see how it may have influenced people and led to things being how they are today.

I think Art is very underappreciated and overlooked, when it’s something that we can actually learn from however don’t always access enough.

The Banking Model of Education – Post #3

According to Friere, the “banking” concept of education is when the student only knows how to retrieve, file, and store away certain information given to them. Students only know how to memorize the information given to them, but don’t actually take the time to understand the material provided. Thus, by “banking”, Friere means to take and put away, just like you would do at a bank with your money. No further process needed. In the system of education, teachers assume the position of the all knowing, while considering others to know nothing. This highly disempowers the students by minimizing their “creative power” and taking their ability to solve problems on their own. With this, ignorance is projected onto others, causing the problem of oppression. These oppressors don’t want to see the world transformed with new ideas nor do they want to show the true nature of the world we live in. Friere states a list of rules in which the banking model incorporates. Some of these “rules” are that the teacher knows everything and the student knows nothing. Or the teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply. If this doesn’t scream oppression, then what does? Students are not being taught material needed for the real world, but rather useless information is stored into their brains that will be forgotten later. It is a means to an end.

Throughout my years of schooling, I had many teachers who were perfect examples of the banking model in modern education. There were teachers who had absolutely no interest in the topics of which they were teaching, and yet criticized the students for not doing well on assignments. How can students learn properly if the teachers themselves don’t want to be there? I have also had classes in which I had to learn the information given just for the sake of memorizing. It was a constant cycle of memorization without actual understanding. This was due to the need of passing examinations and getting good grades to please my parents. I barely even remember what I learned in my Pre-Calculus math class in high school, or my physics class. I even remember saying once, that after I took the exam, left the room, and then automatically forgot everything that I learned. When students are expected to know nothing in a subject, it becomes frusturating to only hear the words of the teacher and absolutely no input from the rest of the class. Ideas should be shared so that minds could be opened. However, an upside to the banking model would be that as we grow older, we start to question. As years go by, our ability to question the world around us arises, and we become more knowledgable than ever before. This allows new and innovative ideas to form along with new ways in solving different problens with different approaches. Also, the banking model allows for information provided to us that we didn’t even know existed or needed.

Image result for the banking model of education

The Banking Model/Concept

The Banking Model or Concept was created by Paulo Friere. The Banking Model/Concept is a education method that basically says that teachers teach and students listen. This empowers the teachers because it gives them a boost of confidence when they’re portraying their knowledge to the students. The banking concept unfortunately disempowers students tremendously. With this concept students are shown as people who don’t know anything and that the only way to know something is through the profound knowledge of the teachers. The banking model also degrades students in expressing their creative sides. This model was created as a way for teachers to feel as if they knew everything in the world and that students couldn’t teach them anything else.

Throughout all my years of schooling, I’ve had at least one teacher whose a prime example of the banking model/concept. These teachers knew what they were talking about but had little to no interest in what the other students had to say. I would look around the classroom and all of the other students were either buried in a book, on their phones, daydreaming, or sleeping. The pros about this was that I didn’t have to participate and that it made the lessons go faster. Unfortunately, this hindered the other students who actually had input on what the teacher was talking about. Due to the inactive participation of the students, it made me hate the sound of my teacher’s voice. Everything that I’ve learned so far in school was based on the knowledge of both students and teachers. Learning never stops no matter if you’re a teacher or a student. There are many things that we can learn from each other despite the fact that one is an educator and one isn’t.

Students, Teachers, and The Banking Model

 

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire was a book that criticizes the conventional education system. The banking model Freire proposed is that students only receive, file, and deposit what the teacher provides. The only thing students are learning to do is memorizing information that the teacher “deposits” in the students’ brains. The job of teachers is not so the students can memorize as much information as possible but to teach and get the students to think and analyze the work that is given. Therefore, instead of strengthening the students’ knowledge they are only strengthening the oppression the teachers have on them. This causes the students to be disempowered while the teachers are highly empowered, at the students’ expense.

My encounter that was similar to the banking model happened in high school. In tenth grade, one of my teachers wanted us to read a book. To make sure we were reading it, she would give us quizzes. However, these were not ordinary quizzes. She would not ask what was the setting or main theme of the book. She would write a quote from the book and we would have to fill in missing words from the quote. This requires students to memorize the whole book, in case she would ask for a word from a specific page. Quizzes were a decent amount of our grade, so I started memorizing the book. The positive side of this was that I learned how to memorize a lot of pages in a short amount of time. The negative side of it was, I was not actually learning. I was memorizing because I wanted to do well in the class. We were not actually analyzing the book and learning the deeper meaning of it, so I gained nothing. The overall reason I was doing it was because she was my teacher and I had to do it. This is what the school system has turned to, students memorizing texts because the teacher asked them to.

Blog 4: Formal Analysis

Formal analysis, when discussing works of art, seems to represent the visual and physical aspects of the work of art, what the viewer explicitly “sees” when viewing a piece of art. The “answers” you are looking for in formal analysis come from the work of art itself, usually without referring to outside sources. It asks, what did the artist want to accomplish in visual terms with their art.

Specifically formal analysis looks into color, line, shape, mass, scale, and composition. What colors did the artist use, are they dark, light, saturated, unsaturated? How are the lines painted or drawn or sculpted, are they soft, infrequent lines that let the viewers eyes flow from section to section, or are they heavy handed lines that are meant to draw the viewers’ eyes into specific sections? Are the lines 2D or 3D, is it presented with a flatness or depth?

How does the artist manipulate the space of their work? Is it cluttered to show static motion or is it minimal to depict a quiet stillness to the work? What is the scale of the work? How are the images presented in comparison to one another, what is big, what is small, what is important or stressed?

For composition, how does the artist put all these elements together and how do they work in relation to each other? In formal analysis you will ask how line, shape, color, space, scale all contribute to overall composition and visual effect.

Blog Post 3: Pedagogy and Power

As described by Paolo Freire in “The Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” the “banking model” reflects the current system of education and the specific relationship that exists between the teachers, (subjects) and the students (listening objects in the education system. According to Freire the teacher fills the head of the student with ideas “detached” from reality, meaning ideas that are almost entirely foreign to the student, and in turn the student is then forced into memorizing the ideas mechanically without ever truly understanding why. Freire believes this turns students into receptacles or depositories while the teaches are the depositors, thus “the banking model” title. Freire states this is a misguided system of education, in which teachers become oppressors and the students become the oppressed. He also states that the interests of the oppressors lie in “changing the consciousness of the oppressed,” not [changing] the situation which oppresses them.” This model of education greatly empowers the teacher and disempowers the student. The solution to this misguided model of education does not lie in integrating the students onto the system, according to Freire, it lies in transforming the structure of education so that students can become “beings for themselves.”

I, and I feel like most students in our current system of education, have a greta deal of experience with this “banking model.” All throughout middle school, high school, and even college, most of the information is presented in this way. The teacher or professor presents facts/ information, depositing it into the students heads, then the student is responsible to retain that information for a test/paper/midterm/final and when the test is over, the studied/learned information almost seems to vanish. Instead of studying or learning for the sake of learning and personal betterment it becomes a cold system of memorization for the sake of memorization without that intimate relationship of having learned something just for the sake of learning.

 

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Pedagogy And Power

Paulo Freire was a Brazilian educator and philosopher that used the term “banking model” to describe and critique the traditional educational system. According to Freire, it is a method of educating where an educator teaches a student and the student must retain that knowledge, for example, the students are empty containers that need to be filled with the knowledge from the educators. This method allows educators to be empowered because they are the ones who can differentiate right from wrong and their teachings are passed down to the students. Meanwhile, the students are the ones that are dis-empowered, due to the lack of freedom of expression and creativity towards these teachings, and being forced to only accept the information given to them by the educator. This comes out of the students expense since they are not able to express themselves through questioning and creativity, while they are only being filled with information from the educator temporarily and will soon forget the teachings once the course is complete.
I’ve had experience with the “banking model” before with my math courses. In my math course, the professor taught a specific way to solve certain questions and equations and they had to be solved specifically to the way the professor taught it in the course. It was quite frustrating considering the fact that there was a much more efficient, quicker, and easier way to solve the problems and use the formulas, but the professor would not allow it due to the way he taught the class. If we were to not solve the questions his way we would not b able to receive full credit for the course. The positives that came out of the experience was knowing that there is a quicker and easier way to solve the problems instead of solving the problems the harder way. The Negatives that came out of the experience was it was a waste of time and could’ve saved a lot of effort and time.